This is My Prayer!

Sometimes, when I empty the dishwasher and do the laundry, I think about a story that I read in Suzanne Woods Fisher’s wonderful book “Words of Wisdom from the Simple Life”.

The story told of a woman who did massive amounts of laundry by hand, and when it was suggested that she might not have to toil in this way if a different washer was provided, she answered that she would never want to shorten her “laundry day” because that was the day that she prayed for her children.

Similarly, I remember hearing the Dali Llama say that we do so much with our thoughts. He explained that a person doing dishes can be using their thoughts for the good the whole time that they wash. When I do a mundane task, such as shoveling, washing dishes, or folding the laundry, I do sense my mind wandering.

I can let it wander, daydreaming and floating over various things. At times it might drift towards a worry or concern. When I am aware, I can steer that little canoe right over to less worrisome waters. I can chose to pray. I pray about my family, my friends, and people that I have met out and about.

These little chores through out the day can seem to ‘take up time’, but when I think about them as this wonderful, valuable opportunity for prayer, they become integral parts of my day.

I am grateful for this opportunity to look at something that is very habitual and normal for me in a brand new way.

“This is my prayer:
That your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”
Philippians 1:9-11